Niagara Falls Water Board: Human error caused inky discharge

The Niagara Falls Water Board says the release of a black, smelly discharge into the Niagara River last weekend was attributable to human error.

Credit Photo courtesy of Maid of the Mist

Water Board Director Rolfe Porter released a statement Friday night providing a lengthy play-by-play of what happened. Porter said while an employee was monitoring the outflow from a sedimentation basin, that employee was called away to assist with another task elsewhere in the plant. When he returned, the employee noticed the discharge had grown darker in color. The pump from the basin was then shut off.

Porter said the water board continues to be "candid" and "open" in ongoing meetings with the State Department of Environmental Conservation in the wake of the controversial discharge.